Iniquitous
by Luthien Luinwe
Summary: The BAU agents have handled the worst of murder cases and kidnappings, but when one of their own snaps, it is all they can do to maintain their sanity. But will they be able to talk their friend down, or is he already too far gone to be helped?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own _Criminal Minds._**

"**We wait and think and doubt and hate. How does it make you feel? The overwhelming feeling is rage. We hate ourselves for being unable to be other than what we are. Unable to be better. We feel rage. The feelings must be followed. It doesn't matter whether you're an ideologue or a sensualist, you follow the stimuli thinking that they're your signposts to the promised land. But they are nothing of the kind. What they are is rocks to navigate the past, each on your brush against, ripping you a little more open and they are always more on the horizon. But you can't face up to the that, so you force yourself to believe the bullshit of those you instinctively know are liars and you repeat those lies to yourself and to others, hoping that by repeating them often and fervently enough you'll attain the godlike status we accord those who tell the lies most frequently and most passionately. But you never do, and even if you could, you wouldn't value it, you'd realise that nobody believes in heroes any more. We know that they only want to sell us something we don't really want and keep from us what we really do need. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we're getting in touch with our condition at last. It's horrible how we always die alone, but no worse than living alone."**

**-Irvine Welsh, **_**Fifth**_

It was the job of a supervisory agent to notice when any one of his subordinates seemed even the slightest bit off. So when Hotch noticed some odd behavior from one of his best, albeit his youngest, agents, it was odd that he said nothing. He didn't think much of it at first. He'd catch the genius speaking to himself about things totally irrelevant to the matter at hand; notice a few strange responses to questions from his peers, speech drifting off into subject matter that had absolutely nothing to do with anything regarding the situation. He had thought it was just, well, for lack of a better word, just Reid, who had always been quite the eccentric.

But maybe he should have said something. After all, he knew something wasn't right. But he couldn't risk losing one of the best members of his team. The fact of the matter was that they all needed his brilliance, his insight. He was able to see the world in ways they couldn't begin to imagine. But in not saying anything, Hotch had inadvertently put his entire team in danger.

The morning had gone much as it always did. Hotch had gotten up, seen his son Jack off to school, and gone into the office. He wasn't surprised to see the female agents chatting with each other regarding God only knew what. Garcia was joking around with Morgan, and trying to joke around with Rossi. But Reid was sitting off by himself, at least until he saw Hotch. "Hey, can I talk to you?" Spencer asked his supervisor.

"Of course," Hotch nodded. He always encouraged his team to come to him with any concerns. A close-knit group was essential in their line of work. If so much of one of them had an off day, they all had an off day. It was that simple. He led the younger man into his office and took a seat, gesturing for Reid to do the same, which he did. "What's wrong, Reid?" he asked in a tone that most would find cold and uncaring, but those who knew Hotch knew was full of genuine concern.

"I'm being watched," Reid answered in a deadly serious tone. While looking concerned, there was more than a hint of paranoia and suspicion in his eyes, obvious to an experienced profiler. Reid wasn't just convinced he was being watched, he _knew _he was being watched, and Hotch had a strong feeling that he knew the turn this conversation was about to take.

"By whom?" Hotch asked, making sure to keep his tone calm and even, as he always did. He knew Reid would pick up on Hotch profiling him if he wasn't extremely cautious. He needed to remain nonchalant, especially if the answer he was expecting came up.

"The government," Reid answered as he looked around the room as frantically as Reid could. "They're watching me," he said in a near whisper. "Not just at work. I'm not an idiot, I know I work for them, but they are watching me, Hotch."

"You know that's ridiculous," Hotch responded. He couldn't help but remember the incident in which Reid and Elle were held hostage on that train… It was a typical scenario, he knew that. One of the most common delusions was that a person was being watched by the government. But he also knew that he had to get the younger agent to calm down before he could risk sending him out with the others, if not sending him home. And if he couldn't get Reid out, he needed to get everyone else out, he could easily see the situation becoming violent, no matter who the person before him was.

"But it isn't!" Reid insisted. "They're watching me." He looked over to the side, as if he was seeing someone that no one else could. "But you already knew that, didn't you?!" he accused, raising his voice. "You're a part of this, aren't you?!" There was a flash of betrayal in his eyes. "I trusted you!"

"Reid!" Hotch shouted. He was quickly losing patience with the man. "Listen to what you're saying! No one is watching you!" He tried to casually reach for his phone to alert one of the others.

"What are you doing?" Reid demanded. Hotch cursed under his breath, of course Reid had noticed the subtle movement. He supposed one couldn't have gone through years of severe bullying _without _noticing things like that. "Who are you calling?"

"Morgan," Hotch called off the first name that came to mind. He hoped that would relax Reid at least a little bit. He knew the two were close. "I think he might be able to help you."

"Morgan?" Reid questioned, softening only slightly. "You're just saying that so I won't do anything!"

"I will put him on speaker if you want," Hotch responded evenly. He didn't want to agitate Reid further. "I think you need to go home, but I'm not sending you home alone in this state of mind. You two seem to get a long well, he seemed like the right choice."

"I don't need to go home!" Reid shouted. "I'm fine," he said in a forced calm manner.

"No," Hotch argued. "You aren't. You need to go home. I'm sending Morgan with you. I can call him, or we can go and get him. But I will _only _let us go out and get him if I can be sure you won't, in any way, agitate anyone. Can I trust you to stay calm long enough to leave?"

"I already said I'm calm," Reid responded. He reluctantly allowed his supervisor to lead him out of the office and into the bullpen. He looked around at the people he was so familiar with, but they all seemed so… Different. They all seemed more suspicious, much more suspicious.

"Morgan," Hotch said as he approached the man. "I need you to take Reid home. Don't leave him alone, understood?"

Morgan frowned at that statement. "Everything okay?" he asked, though he already knew the answer to that. Hotch never sent anyone home without good reason.

"He just needs some time away," Hotch answered carefully. The last thing he needed was another outburst from the doctor. "Call me if anything happens, got it?"

"Got it," Morgan sighed before walking over to his friend. "Come on, pretty boy, let's go," he said, already leading Reid away from the group.

"Where are you taking me?" Spencer demanded as he tried to get some distance between him and the other man.

"Home, remember?" Morgan said. "Hotch's orders." Something was definitely not right.

Spencer glared at his friend. "You're conspiring with him, aren't you?!" he demanded loudly. Several of his team members turned to look at the scene. "You're all out to get me, aren't you?!"

"Reid, man, _no one _is trying to hurt you," Morgan tried to reason with him. "We're worried about you, okay? That's it." He put his hand on Reid's shoulder, but the younger man backed up immediately.

"Touch me again, and I swear to God I'll blow this place up," the younger man threatened.

Hotch supposed that moment was when he realized what had _really _seemed off about the young man. Outbursts like this had happened before, though never to this extent. He felt like an idiot for not noticing it sooner. Reid had been planning this. It wasn't some new conspiracy theory. He had suspected them of watching him for a long time, longer than Hotch had assumed. But it was an empty threat, wasn't it? Reid wasn't armed… "You're bluffing."

"I'm not," Reid argued. He pulled something that looked much too real. This was happening. But Hotch couldn't see where they had gone wrong. He didn't see how Reid had gotten through the security checkpoints he had to go through to merely get into the building. They were all trained FBI agents, yet none of them had noticed something that should have stuck out from the start. Not one of them had noticed the bomb under Reid's shirt.

**Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.****  
-Norman Cousins**


	2. Chapter 2

"**Knowing that you're crazy doesn't make the crazy things stop happening."**

**-Mark Vonnegut, **_**The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity**_

"Touch me again, and I swear to God I'm going to blow the building," Reid said in a deadly serious tone. The team all knew the young man well enough to know that he was most certainly not bluffing, but they also knew that they had to do something. If they couldn't get out themselves, they needed to get everyone else in the building out. At least the building was covered in security cameras. Surely by then, someone had been alerted.

"Calm down, man," Morgan said gently. He made a point to stay a safe distance away, so as not to further aggravate his friend. "Think about what you're doing here. This is a _federal _building. You keep up with this stunt, and they'll take it as an act of terrorism. You don't want that."

"I know what I'm doing!" Reid snapped at him. "I know you're all armed," he said as he looked at each of the team members. "Put your weapons in the middle of the room _now!_"

Morgan looked over at Hotch, who nodded slightly. The supervisory agent slowly approached the center of the room. He removed his pistol from its holster and carefully placed it on the ground, making sure that Reid had a clear view of his hands the entire time. One by one, the other agents followed suite.

"Think we can talk him down?" Morgan asked Hotch, keeping his voice low enough so only he could hear. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach that this situation would not end well. Most hostage situations didn't end up well for the hostage taker, and more often than not ended badly for the hostages as well. He was certain that the SWAT team would have the building surrounded quickly. They were superhumanly fast when it came to a threat to a government building. He was also confident that they would have snipers watching the windows. One thing was most definitely certain, if Reid did not let them go soon, he'd end up with a bullet through his head.

"I doubt it," Hotch answered. "He isn't thinking rationally." Negotiations never worked if one of the parties was thinking irrationally. A negotiation would be ineffective despite the irrationality of the hostage taker's mind though if all parties were inside the building. They needed someone on the outside, but at the moment, they didn't have that luxury.

"He isn't going to make it out of this alive, is he?" Morgan asked.

Hotch could see the doubt in his eyes, the sadness. No one could have predicted anything like this happening, be it Reid's doing or another's. He knew the two had always been close, which must have made it all the harder on Morgan. Still, he prided himself with honesty, however brutal it may be. "I'm beginning to doubt any of us will."

"What are you two talking about?!" Reid shouted at Hotch and Morgan. "Shut up now!"

"Why are you doing this, man?" Morgan asked.

"Don't push him," Rossi said lowly. He knew Morgan was only trying to help, but conversations like this always tended to do more harm than good.

Morgan ignored him. "Come on, Spence. The Reid I know wouldn't do something like this. So why is he now?"

"I said shut up!" Reid shouted at him.

"Reid," Hotch said evenly. "Morgan and I are the ones you seem to be the most hostile toward," he continued. He had noticed that the youngest BAU agent hadn't said so much as one word to the other agents. "You can keep us in here, but let the others go."

"I can't let anyone go! You're all out to get me! All of you!" Reid argued. He was becoming more panicked by the second.

"Not all of us," Hotch argued. He needed to play into the fantasy, if only just a little bit, if they were going to have any hope of getting some of the members out safely. "Morgan and I are the only agents who have been watching you. Let the others go. Think about them. JJ has a son she needs to get to…" _So do I, but I can't think about him right now. _He hated that he had to drag Morgan into it as well. If it were entirely up to him, he would have solely taken the blame, but there was too much hostility toward the other.

At the mention of Morgan, Reid turned cold. "It isn't fair," he said in an ice cold tone as he stared at the man.

"What isn't fair?" Morgan asked as he crossed his arms.

"Morgan, don't push him," Rossi repeated. If anyone in the room would be able to handle the situation well, it would be him. He was, after all, the resident expert on hostage situations. But there was next to nothing he could do when he was inside the situation. If he could get outside though, he might be able to get something accomplished.

"No, I want to hear this," Morgan responded. He never looked away from Reid.

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Reid said lowly. He walked over to JJ. "Get out," he said to her.

"Not without the others," JJ responded coldly. She couldn't treat him as her friend. She had to treat him as the situation saw fit, and in that situation, he was a criminal, nothing more, nothing less. Still though, she had her son to think about.

"You aren't a part of this," Reid said. "Get out."

"Do what he says," Hotch said to JJ. JJ opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off before she could. "That's an order."

"Take Elle and Garcia with you," Reid said.

Hotch nodded to the others and watched sadly as the three women left. He prayed that wasn't the last time they would see each other. "Let Rossi go with them."

"And let him work with the others?!" Reid shouted frantically. "No way in hell…"

"You're panicked," Hotch said calmly.

"I thought you said not to try to talk him down?!" Morgan looked confused.

Hotch held up a hand to silence him. "You're scared. You can let us go, and we can make a deal," he said calmly. "But if you keep us in here, we all know how this is going to end."

"Listen to him, Spencer," Rossi said. If they could keep him distracted, then in theory, they could stay alive. The important thing was that they had people they could trust on the outside now. They could potentially get an effective negotiation started.

"I think I know why you're doing this," Hotch said. He had to tread carefully. One false move could kill them all.

"Don't you dare profile me…" Reid said, making it sound like a threat.

"I'm not profiling you," Hotch assured. "I'm trying to understand," he took a breath. He was glad that for once, Morgan kept his mouth shut. "You've had a hard life. Your mother is schizophrenic. Your father left. You've been kidnapped, multiple times, might I add, drugged, you struggled with addiction, you had trouble after Gideon left, and then the situation with…" he was going to continue, but Reid cut him off.

"Don't you dare mention that!" Reid shouted. It had been several months since her death, but he was clearly still not over it. "Don't mention her!"

"I won't, then," Hotch assured. That was close. "You're afraid of your own mind, Spencer. You want it to stop, but you don't want to do it yourself," he continued speaking. "You're afraid."

"I'm not scared!" Reid argued. "Fear means I'm out of control. I'm not out of control!"

"That's bullshit!" Morgan finally spoke up.

"Not helping the situation, Morgan," Rossi sighed.

"Reid, if there is something you want, you need to tell us," Hotch said. He ignored the little outburst from his subordinate. "You know we can get it to you."

"I want it to stop," Reid responded. "I want it to stop," he repeated softly.

Hotch nodded slowly. He had no clue what Reid meant when he referred to 'it,' but he couldn't risk pushing him over the edge. At least they were making a bit of progress. But he of all people knew that it had to get worse, much worse, before it could get better.

"**Life is pain. Anyone that says otherwise is selling something."**

**-William Goldman, **_**The Princess Bride**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this chapter is so short, but it's going to act as a bridge between events, so, here's chapter 3!**

"**Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad."**

**-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**

"Reid, if there's something you want, you need to tell us," Hotch said. "You know we can get it to you."

"I want it to stop," Reid responded. "I want it to stop," he repeated softly.

"Great, but what the hell is 'it?'" Morgan asked Hotch. Hotch shot the younger man a glare that would make a Marine officer tremble in his combat boots.

"I said for you two to shut up!" Reid shouted at the two. His hand was on the gun that lay in its holster on his hip. Morgan and Hotch instinctively reached for their own weapons, seeming to have forgotten that they were on the floor in front of Reid.

"It slipped, sorry," Morgan apologized. He tried to remain calm. The last thing any of them needed was for someone to panic. Panic never accomplished anything. He wondered what the hell was taking SWAT so long to show up. But then again, they were probably already surrounding the building. They most likely did not want to risk Reid blowing everyone up.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Reid glared at the device, but walked over to it anyway. He had a strong feeling that it would be someone trying to get him to let the three agents go. Hotch tried to will him to answer it, knowing it could be their shot at getting out of there. When he picked up the phone, Hotch, Morgan, and Rossi began conversing quietly, keeping their voices low so that Reid wouldn't hear them.

"So they got a negotiator then?" Morgan guessed.

Hotch nodded slightly. "Most likely, but the new question is whether or not he'll listen, let alone cooperate…" he sighed in frustration. The whole situation was like walking through a field covered in land mines. One wrong move by any party, be it them or those outside, would bring the building down. "JJ, Elle, and Garcia are down there. They would make sure that it was someone Reid would actually listen to."

"Yeah, but I'd say the only one he'd even consider listening to would be Morgan," Rossi sighed. "And he's standing across from us."

"He'd listen to Gideon," Morgan said certainly. Reid had held so much respect for their former unit chief, had almost worshipped the ground he had walked on. But that wouldn't do much help. Gideon had left the BAU. But still, if he had gotten wind of the situation, he would have stepped in to help, wouldn't he?

Reid abruptly slammed the phone back down into its cradle. "I said stop talking!" he shouted at the group huddled together a semi-safe distance away from him.

"We're trying to figure out what 'it' is," Rossi spoke up. "That's all. It would make things a hell of a lot easier if you would just tell us."

"Don't act like you don't know!" Reid responded harshly. "You're one of them! You know what it is…" he trailed off as he looked between the three. "You all know what it is. You're working for them. You know…" he kept repeating himself quietly.

"You never did say why you're going to this extreme," Rossi said calmly. "What is killing the three of us and yourself going to accomplish? Do you really want to be remembered as the suicide bomber that destroyed a federal building and took three agents with him?"

"I have to do it, now shut up!" Reid snapped.

"So who did they have call you?" Morgan asked, trying to direct some hostility away from Rossi.

"None of your business!" Reid responded.

"Yeah, it actually is, considering we're the ones stuck in here!" Morgan froze when he saw Reid's pistol aimed at him. He took a few breaths to calm down. "I'm sorry," he apologized, knowing he'd pushed the young man too far. "I shouldn't have asked. Now will you put that thing away?"

Reid shook his head. "Not when you three won't be quiet… Too many voices…" he trailed off. "Talk again, and I'll shoot."

Hotch watched the scene carefully. He expected Morgan to go a bit too far at some point, just not that soon. Now they not only had the threat of the bombing, they had the threat of being shot. And knowing Reid, the youngest member of the team wouldn't shoot to kill. He would shoot to injure.

Still though, the outburst had happened so quickly. It seemed different than the previous ones. Something other than extreme paranoia and probable schizophrenia was going on. Hotch was certain of that. He also couldn't help but notice that Reid's breathing had spiked and that he was sweating. He remembered seeing similar symptoms a few years prior. He discreetly passed a note over to Morgan. _'Does it seem like he's in withdrawal to you?' _the note read.

Morgan frowned when he saw what Hotch had written. He studied Reid for a moment before writing back. _'You think he started shooting up again to block out any hallucinations?'_

'_That would be my guess,' _Hotch wrote back. He motioned for Morgan to pocket the note when he saw Reid start to turn back toward them. Morgan nodded. He quickly folded up the piece of paper and placed it in his back pocket.

Hotch wondered if the situation could go any further against their favor. It was bad enough dealing with a schizophrenic who believed that they were out to get him, but with withdrawal on top of it… Anything could be the theoretical straw that breaks the camel's back. They had to be extra careful from then on out. He was beginning to think it would be easier to get Reid in front of a window so that a sniper could get him. But he would only suggest that if the situation became desperate. He didn't think he could handle seeing Reid die in front of him.

"**I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness, and a dread of some strange impending doom."**

**-Edgar Allan Poe**


	4. Chapter 4

"**It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer… and everything collapses."**

**-Colette**

**- 3 Months Prior -**

_Spencer Reid was walking to his apartment after a long day at work and the closing of a particularly gruesome case. He always hated ones like that. Murders he could handle. Kidnappings he was still iffy about. Any case involving children was, as always, tragic. But something about this case had gotten to him, had shaken him up. A schizophrenic man had decapitated his wife with an axe, believing he was slaying a demon. He couldn't help but think he was lucky. Though it was a fact that most mentally ill people were not violent, when they were violent, it was bad. He was lucky that his mother never harmed him._

_But that was most certainly not the only issue affecting the young man. His migraines had returned, which he had initially thought nothing of. They meant nothing the first time, so it would make sense that they would mean nothing the second time around. But he would find himself turning around, thinking he heard someone speaking, and no one would be there. He would think he saw someone walk into a building somewhere, only to look again and find that he had been deceived. It scared him more than he would care to admit. And he was afraid. He had started doing Dilaudid again to block out the supposed hallucinations, and he knew he couldn't quit, not a second time. He was afraid that the others would catch on._

_As Reid neared his apartment, he thought he saw a familiar face sitting on a bench nearby. He shook his head, thinking it wasn't possible. The man had dropped all contact with him long ago. But as Reid walked past, the man spoke. "Spencer, been awhile," he smiled as he stood._

_Reid glared at the man. "I have nothing to say to you," he responded coldly. _

_The man shrugged off the comment. "How have you been?" he asked with genuine concern hiding the underlying motive he had for speaking with the young man. "I heard about what happened. Maeve was her name?" he asked._

_Reid tensed up at the mention of her. He nodded silently._

"_I can make the pain go away," the man said with a slight smirk._

_Reid frowned at that, but was clearly interested. "You can make it stop?"_

**Present -**

"You can make it stop?" Reid mumbled in a half-conscious state. His withdrawal symptoms had gotten to the point where he had had to shoot up again, despite needing to make sure his three hostages remained silent. The need for the drug had outweighed his need to make 'it' stop. At least he was still half-conscious. Mostly high meant somewhat sober. He could do something, right?

Hotch glanced over at Rossi and Morgan. He was surprised to say the least regarding what had happened. Reid had injected himself with the drug, making him less lucid. He knew they could potentially try and leave, but with the hostage taker still being somewhat lucid and higher than a kite, that would be likely to get all of them killed, but it did give them time to figure things out. "I don't think he's operating alone," he said evenly.

"Neither do I," Rossi commented. "He's too nervous. I mean, anyone would be nervous taking FBI agents hostage in a federal building, but this is different. There's no way in hell he could've pulled this off alone."

"So who's his partner, then?" Morgan asked. "It would have to be someone familiar with the building, familiar with how the BAU operates… That could be any of us," he sighed. "But three of us are in here, and three of them are outside. If they were involved, they wouldn't have looked as scared as they did…"

"Do we know who they brought in to negotiate?" Hotch asked the group.

Rossi shook his head. "Best case scenario, I'd be out there. I wouldn't be able to remain objective, but I know how Reid's mind works. They would need someone calm and collected. They would need someone who would be able to work with Reid, but there are few that could…" he shook his head yet again.

"But did you watch him when he was talking to the negotiator on the phone?" Morgan asked. "He was calm, he wasn't panicked."

"You think the negotiator is his partner?" Hotch asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I think he's involved," Morgan answered.

"I wouldn't brush that off," Rossi said. "It is a possibility. A damn likely one at that. You think we can get Reid to give the son of a bitch's name?"

"Doubtful," Hotch answered. "If we even bring it up, he'll know we've been talking, and if he knows we've been talking…"

"One of us gets shot, if not all of us," Morgan finished the sentence. "What if we make a deal with him?"

"I don't think we can," Hotch answered.

"But we could make him think we could. Say that we think he's under duress, and that if he gives us the name, we can help him," Rossi suggested.

"It may be our only option right now, Hotch," Morgan said. "I'll do it. I don't think he'd hurt me."

"But we aren't dealing with the Reid we're familiar with either," Rossi reminded Morgan. "Hostage takers are always different than what everyone's 'familiar' with."

"How certain are you that he won't hurt you, Morgan?" Hotch asked, making eye contact with the younger man.

"Pretty damn certain," Morgan answered. "Certain enough to risk being shot."

Hotch nodded slowly. "When the drug wears off, try to talk to him."

As if on cue, Reid quickly glanced over at the two. "I told you three to stop talking!"

"**If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"**

**-William Shakespeare **


	5. Chapter 5

**Just a heads up that I won't be able to update any more this week! I will hopefully get more than one chapter up when I get back in town, though! But for now, enjoy! And thank you to my lovely reviewers! I love you all in that non-creepy way.**

"**Everyone keeps telling me that time heals all wounds, but no one can tell me what I'm supposed to do right now. Right now I can't sleep. It's right now that I can't eat. Right now I still hear his voice and sense his presence even though I know he's not here. Right now all I seem to do is cry. I know all about time and wounds healing, but even if I had all the time in the world, I still don't know what to do with all this hurt right now."**

**-Nina Guilbeau, **_**Too Many Sisters**_

"I told you all to stop talking!" Reid shouted at his trio of hostages. His gun was pointed at each of them, though not aimed at their heads. Like the group had suspected, he would not shoot to kill.

"We were making a plan in case you were out of it for awhile," Rossi spoke up. It wasn't the truth, but it was something they could roll with if Hotch and Morgan went along with it.

"Like hell you were," Reid argued. "You all think I'm crazy, don't you?!" he shouted louder. He narrowed his eyes at Hotch. "You've thought I was crazy for awhile!" he accused as he pointed the weapon at the man.

"No one here thinks you're crazy, Reid," Hotch said calmly and evenly. He shot a look at Morgan that clearly stated for him to keep his mouth shut. "Especially not me. We work with crazy people on a regular basis, remember?" he reminded the younger man. Even if he did think Reid wasn't all there, it was irrelevant to the situation. The situation revolved entirely around the need for Reid to calm down and let them go. And if it did not happen soon, they would have to change their course of action. "I do, however, think you're being manipulated."

"I'm not being manipulated!" Reid responded quickly, almost too quickly. "I'm not."

"Reid, if you can cooperate with us, we can try to work something out, you know that," Rossi spoke up, coming to Hotch's aid. "I have to agree with Hotch, I don't think you're working alone. And I think someone on the outside claiming to be trying to help neutralize the situation is the one using you. Now who is it?"

"I already said it's nobody!" Reid insisted. "Now shut up!" Hotch nodded slightly at Rossi, and the two men backed down.

"So why haven't you blown us up yet?" Morgan asked as he looked up at the youngest member of the team. "We've ticked you off enough times, that's for damn sure. You have the capability. So why haven't you done it?"

Rossi started to tell Morgan to be quiet, but Hotch stopped him. "I want to hear this," he said to the man. Rossi nodded silently.

"It's none of your business," Reid answered vaguely.

"Really?" Morgan questioned. "Because the last time I checked, my life was on the line here! So why haven't you done it? Is it because the person we think is using you told you not to? Is it because he wants it done on his terms? Our job is to read the minds of people who do things like this. You aren't working alone. You know we know that. But you also know you can't tell us because you're afraid. You're nothing but a coward! Admit it!"

"Too far, Morgan," Rossi cringed when Reid aimed the weapon at Morgan's head.

"Mention anything like that again, and I'll shoot you without a second thought," Reid threatened. But something was off about him as he spoke, as if he didn't mean it. He was shaking, and he was nervous, that much was obvious even to an untrained eye.

"Then why haven't you done it yet?" Morgan questioned as he crossed his arms over his chest. It sounded like a challenge.

Reid's finger brushed against the trigger of the gun for a second, before he lowered the weapon. "I already said I don't have to explain myself to you." He was getting tired of all of this, much like he was tired of everything around him going on. He couldn't give away the name, though. The person was his friend, his ally. Without him, Reid was nothing. He wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful or memorable, and God knew this stunt was memorable. No one else was able to understand. He jumped when the phone rang. "What?!" he snapped into the receiver.

"Now is that any way to answer a phone?" the person on the other side of the line asked. Reid relaxed if only slightly. He knew that the person wouldn't do anything. After all, he was the one that organized the entire thing. "Have you done it yet?"

"No," Reid answered, trying to make it seem as though he was communicating with a negotiator and not to the criminal alpha to his beta. "No, not yet."

"Why are you waiting then, Spencer? You know you have to."

"I know. But I can't. Not yet."

"When then?"

"Soon, I promise," Reid said calmly before hanging the phone back up.

"There's only one person he would talk to and be that at ease in a high-stress situation," Hotch said to Morgan, keeping his voice low. "And we both know who that is."

"So you think they brought him in to negotiate knowing Reid would listen to him?" Morgan asked. He doubted that was the case. That was a risky move. But it was still possible, wasn't it?

"I can't be certain, but I think so. But I also think the person negotiating is the one manipulating Reid," Hotch answered.

"But if you're talking about who I think you're talking about," Rossi butted into the conversation. "I think there's some serious doubt. This is a serious accusation, Hotch."

"But right now it's all we have to work with," Hotch reminded him. "He's smart enough to do it and not get caught too."

"But what did we do to piss him off this much?" Morgan asked.

"I think I have an idea," Hotch responded darkly.

"If I know that look," Rossi began. "And I know that look; you have more than an idea. You have everything we need to make a case."

"Yeah, but that information won't make a difference if we all die with it," Morgan pointed out.

"Like I said, it's an educated guess," Hotch sighed. "For all we know, it could just be someone who sounds trustworthy."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Morgan argued.

"But for the moment, it's all we have," Rossi sighed. It was beginning to become very doubtful that they would get anywhere. It was becoming increasingly doubtful that Reid would make it out alive. The minute he screwed up and stepped into an open area, a sniper would get him, which was almost a guarantee. But what was becoming extremely doubtful was the hope that _any _of them would make it through the day.

"**No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart."**

**-F. Scott Fitzgerald, **_**The Great Gatsby**_


End file.
